Build teen skills for sexual abstinence and protection
Teach RTR, receive $450 and $200 worth of RTR materials
Research Results
Original California Study
Beginning in 1988, 13 high schools in 10 California school districts implemented the RTR curriculum during 15 consecutive class periods.
Population Studied
- 758 students predominately in the 9th and 10th grades (429 in the treatment group; 329 in the control group)
- Rural and urban school districts included
- 46 health education classes used (23 classes used RTR)
- 47% males and 53% females
- Ethnicity: 62% White; 20% Latino; 9% Asian; 2% Black; 2% Native American; 5% Other
- Sexual activity level at pretest: 37% had engaged in sexual intercourse; 63% had not yet engaged in sexual intercourse
Research Design
- The curriculum was implemented as part of a more comprehensive, required health education class.
- Teachers who implemented RTR volunteered to do so and attended a three-day training.
- The control group received the standard sexuality education class currently being taught in their school.
Assessment
- Students, teachers and parents assessed the curriculum and its activities through written surveys.
- An evaluation team observed all participating classes at least once and assessed how well the curriculum was implemented – 95% of teachers followed the lesson plan and completed the activities. More than 85% seemed comfortable teaching the curriculum and appeared adequately prepared.
- Students were surveyed through confidential questionnaires before the curriculum was implemented, immediately afterward, and six months and 18 months later.
Findings
The Reducing the Risk curriculum:
- Significantly increased students’ knowledge about contraceptives, pregnancy risk and STD/HIV prevention.
- Delayed initiation of intercourse among youth who had not initiated sexual intercourse at pretest by as much as 24%.
- Reduced by 40% unprotected intercourse among students who had not yet initiated intercourse.
- Increased the use of contraception among those who were sexually active 18 months later.
- Increased the number of students who reported talking with their parents about abstinence and contraception by an average of 26%.
- Significantly affected students' perceptions of the proportion of their peers who had ever had sexual intercourse.
During the 1994 school year, RTR was implemented and studied in five school districts in rural and urban areas of Arkansas. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the effects of the previous study could be duplicated in a southern, predominately rural state.
Population Studied
- 212 students predominately in the 9th and 10th grades (split evenly between a treatment and a control group)
- 48% males and 52% females
- Ethnicity: 85% White; 14% Black; 1% Other
- Sexual activity level at pretest: 41% had engaged in sexual intercourse; 59% had not yet engaged in sexual intercourse
Research Design
- The curriculum was implemented as part of a more comprehensive, required health education class.
- Teachers who implemented RTR volunteered to do so, and attended a three-day training.
- The control group received the standard sexuality education class currently being taught in their school.
Assessment
- Teachers who delivered RTR completed a questionnaire that assessed their degree of implementation. Twenty-nine percent completed all 16 lessons, 29% completed 15 lessons, 14% taught 12 lessons and 28% taught 11 lessons.
- Students in both groups were surveyed through confidential questionnaires before the curriculum was implemented and 18 months later.
Findings
- The curriculum significantly delayed the initiation of sexual intercourse — 43% of the control group who were not sexually active at pretest were sexually active 18 months later whereas 28% of those who received RTR became sexually active.
- Sexually active students in the treatment group were significantly more likely to use protection (89%) than those in the control group (46%).
- Students in the treatment group showed a significant increase in parent-child communication about sexual issues.
Between 1995 and 1997, 10 high schools in the Louisville Kentucky area and seven schools in Cleveland, Ohio were assigned to teach one of three curricula: the schools’ standard, non-skills-based HIV prevention curricula (the control group); the full Reducing the Risk curriculum; or a modified RTR curriculum, adapted for high sensation seekers and impulsive decision makers.
Population Studied
- A sample of 1,944 urban students from 17 schools – 681 in the group receiving the full RTR curriculum; 1,149 in the modified RTR group; and 851 in the group receiving the schools’ standard curricula.
- 53.1% females and 46.9% males
- Ethnicity: 51.1% White; 35.5% Black; 5.8% Latino; 7.7% Other
- Sexual activity level at pretest: 39.2% had engaged in sexual intercourse; 60.8% had not yet engaged in sexual intercourse
Research Design
- Schools were assigned to one of the three curricula.
- Teachers in both RTR groups received an extensive two and a-half day training four-six weeks prior to curriculum implementation.
- During RTR classes, peer leaders led small-group discussions, videotaped role-playing activities and assisted teachers in class-wide games and other activities.
Assessment
- Students were surveyed at three different times: at the beginning of implementation to establish a baseline; at three-six months, and 12-18 months after baseline.
Findings
- Those in the control group had significantly greater odds of initiating sexual activity than participants in both the RTR groups.
- The effects of both RTR interventions were greater for Blacks than for Whites.
- The modified RTR curriculum did not result in either a greater reduction of sexual initiation than the original RTR intervention or a greater increase in condom use – perhaps because RTR was already sufficiently engaging for high sensation-seeking and impulsive students.
